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Another record was set over the weekend when Customs and Border Protection’s migrant encounter tracker for Fiscal Year 2022 surpassed the 2 million mark for the first time in U.S. history, according to reports.
CBP sources told Fox News that the migrant encounters hit 2,001,034 this weekend, with the majority of the fourth quarter left to go.
It comes after the agency released figures for July that showed encounters reaching below 200,000 for the first month since February. It was also the second consecutive month that saw a decline in encounters following four months in a row of increases.
At this point in Fiscal Year 2021, encounter figures were at 1,277,177 – more than 700,000 less than the same point this year.
Meanwhile, buses full of migrants continue to offload at New York City’s Port Authority on Wednesday as Texas Governor Greg Abbott goes forward with an initiative sending illegal immigrants out of his state to major U.S. cities.
Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Miguel Castro received the migrants arriving in the Big Apple from Texas on Wednesday morning.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have encountered more than 2 million migrants at the southern border so far in Fiscal Year 2022, sources with the agency revealed to Fox. Pictured: More migrants bussed from Texas arrived in New York City on Wednesday morning
New figures released this week show that less than 200,000 migrants were encountered in July, a two month consecutive decrease in crossings. As of July, CBP encountered 1.82 million migrants in Fiscal Year 2022 – but in the first half of August, it increased to more than 2 million
Texas Governor Greg Abbott started sending migrants on buses from his state to Washington D.C. and New York City since they are sanctuary cities. Pictured: Immigrants, including young children, disembark a bus at Port Authority in Manhattan on Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Images from the border this week show groups of hundreds of migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. – specifically thousands were spotted in recent days crossing into Eagle Pass, Texas
A migrant arriving in New York City flashes a thumbs-up at bystanders and media at Port Authority
So far, Abbott has sent at least 6,000 migrants to Washington, D.C.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser have decried Abbott’s efforts, which were started in mid-April and led to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey launching the same program a month later bussing migrants from his state to the sanctuary cities.
For months, the efforts were focused on the nation’s capital in an attempt to bring to the doorstep of lawmakers the southern border crisis. But after Bowser called the few thousands migrants in D.C. a humanitarian crisis, Abbott saw the effectiveness of the campaign.
At that point he started sending migrants to New York as well.
Reports of more than 2 million encounters throughout the year coupled with figures released from last month’s crossings means that at least 120,000 migrants have crossed illegally in August so far.
Images have emerged from spots along the southern border where several hundred and sometimes thousands of migrants crossed in the span of just 24 hours.
People, including Hasidic Jews, welcome migrants to New York as they continue to be bussed to the Big Apple from Texas
Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Miguel Castro received the migrants arriving in Manhattan from Texas on Wednesday morning
A migrant woman holds her baby as she disembarks a bus at the Port Authority in New York after boarding in Texas
Specifically, Fox News has released images from Eagle Pass, Texas where groups of hundreds of migrants are rounded up after traversing across the Rio Grande River in a dangerous journey that many times leads to immediate return.
In other cases, however, migrants’ asylum claims are heard out and they are released into the U.S. to await immigration proceedings.
But officials warn that thousands of migrants never show up for their court dates and disappear into the country, remaining undocumented.
There are still two months left in FY2022, and if encounters continue at their current rate, CBP could be on track for nearly 2.5 million apprehensions in one year – far surpassing any previous year.
A small group of migrants illegally cross the Rio Grande River from Piedras Negras, Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas on Friday, August 12, 2022